The psychiatric interview / Daniel J. Carlat.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Section I: General principles of effective interviewing. The initial interview: a preview ; Logistic preparations: what to do before the interview ; The therapeutic alliance: what it is, why it's important, and how to establish it ; Asking questions I: how to approach threatening topics ; Asking questions II: tricks for improving patient recall ; Asking questions III: how to change topics with style ; Techniques for the reluctant patient ; Techniques for overly talkative patient ; Techniques for the malingering patient ; Techniques for the agitated patient ; Techniques for the adolescent patient ; Interviewing family members and other informants ; Techniques for other challenging situations ; Practical psychodynamics in the diagnostic interview -- Section II: The psychiatric history. Obtaining the history of present illness ; Obtaining the psychiatric history ; Screening for general medical conditions ; Family psychiatric history ; Obtaining the social and development history -- Section III: Interviewing for diagnosis: the psychiatric review of symptoms. How to memorize the DSM-5-TR criteria ; Interviewing for diagnosis: the art of hypothesis testing ; Mental status examinations ; Assessing suicidal and homicidal ideation ; Assessing mood disorders I: depressive disorders ; Assessing mood disorders II: bipolar disorder ; Assessing anxiety, obessive, and trauma disorders ; Assessing substance use disorder ; Assessing psychotic disorders ; Assessing neurocognitive disorders (dementia and delirium) ; Assessing eating disorders and somatic symptom disorder ; Assessing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ; Assessing personality disorders -- Section IV: Interviewing for treatment. How to educate your patient ; Negotiating a treatment plan ; Writing up the results of the interview -- Appendix A: Pocket cards -- Appendix B: Data forms for the interview -- Appendix C: Patient education handouts.

"Over the course of a 40-year professional career, you will do 100,000 diagnostic interviews. The diagnostic interview is by far the most important tool in the arsenal of any clinician, and yet the average training program directs relatively few resources to specific training in the skills required for it. The general assumption seems to be that if you do enough interviews with different kinds of patients, you'll naturally pick up the required skills. That may be true, but it can take a long time, and the learning process can be painful. I hatched the idea for this manual one night during my first year of psychiatric residency. Starting my shift in the acute psychiatry service (APS), I noticed five patients in the waiting room; the resident who handed me the emergency room beeper said that there were two more patients in the emergency room, both in restraints. At that moment, the beeper sounded, and I called the number. "Psychiatry? This is Ellison 6. We have a patient up here who says he's depressed and suicidal. Please come and evaluate, stat." That meant that I had a total of eight diagnostic assessments to do"-- Provided by publisher.